Written by Loh Pei Ying (08A05).
When I think about Guitar Ensemble, I tend to smile to myself. I know it sounds a little crazy, but it’s the truth. The thought of Guitar Ensemble brings back great memories to my mind. In 2008, I joined Guitar Ensemble because I had a great love for music. I thought the CCA would have been a great choice for me because the guitar is an extremely versatile instrument. Moreover, I already had prior guitar playing experience. So I thought “Why not?”
My decision to join Guitar Ensemble has changed my perspective on many things. At first, practices were boring. I knew no one else and was on my own. To make matters worse, ice-breaking games made me feel awkward. However, I made a new friend. Her name is Heather. She is currently the President of the Guitar Ensemble. We stuck together and became CCA buddies. From there, I made more friends. Soon, I became increasingly attached to the CCA.
During our June Camp, we had the usual round of interview to select the new executive committee for the CCA. I did not have any real intention of being part of it. To me, it did not matter. I had fun in the CCA, and that was most important at that point of time. In my interview, I had said, “I would do anything that the CCA require of me.” My instructor questioned me as to exactly how much I would actually contribute to the CCA. I only remembered giving a vague answer.
When the results came out, I was pretty surprised by the leadership position that I was assigned to. I was chosen to be the “Publicity Officer”. Later on I thought, “This shouldn't be too bad. Doesn’t seem like a tough job.”
I was wrong.
My leadership is now an inside joke in Guitar Ensemble. I had one of the most tedious jobs in the team. My job covered handling CCA shirts, to CCA files, to drafting proposals, to creating logos, posters, getting a tailor for our costumes, creating a newsletter and so on. As long as it did not involve music or admin matters, I had to do it.
It was tiring. There are days when I stayed up till unearthly hours to complete my work. I used to joke about how I’ve become the “ambassador for Guitar Ensemble” because I have to pick up calls and reply emails to external organizations for the CCA pretty often.
Nonetheless, the experience has been fulfilling. And it is so because I have my team members supporting me. When I need help, my executive committee is there to pick me up and put me back in place. We do camp-material shopping together. I drag them to Jurong East and Chinese Garden with me just to find a tailor.
We are a group, an ensemble. We stick together through thick and thin. It is not the outcome that matters, but the process of working together and learning something. Although my work is tough, I have now developed life skills that many others may have missed out on. “One Band, One Sound.” That was the motto of the Military Band in the movie Drumline. We have adopted our own version of “One Ensemble, One Sound.” It does not sound as nice, but it does not matter because it is the meaning that counts.
Commitment is important, but friendship is far more crucial than that. In Guitar, we do crazy things together; we can have fun that is completely out of this world. We are like a family and this is what Guitar Ensemble offers to all the new JC1s coming in to TPJC.
This CCA has a long history in TPJC. We have an internal rock band and our ensemble has held its own concert last December. We achieved Gold with Honours for SYF in 2007. Plus, we practice music from almost all genres.
Guitar practices are on Wednesdays and Fridays. We start at 2.30pm and practice should end around 4.30pm for the JC1s. You don’t need to have any music experience to join as Guitar Ensemble is open to everyone. Music is only one of the major things we do. As long as you have the heart and the interest, we will accept you.
For more information you can contact me, Loh Pei Ying (08A05) on tpjc.net. More information is also available at http://tpjcguitarensemble.blogspot.com. Have a great orientation and see you around ; )
Guitar Ensemble- Where Friendship Takes On A New Meaning.
TPJC Guitar Ensemble To Release New CCA T-Shirts Soon
Simple, cool and eye-catching. Those are the three words which I believe perfectly describe the new CCA T-shirts designed for Guitar Ensemble members. The new collar T-shirts, which are slated for release early next month, have a logo and the name of the CCA (and college) printed on the front and back respectively.
I love the logo. It looks like a spider web sticking on the face of the guitar from far. The fonts used for the name of the CCA (and college) are elegant. The bright green design look more eye-catching than the red one. The contrasting hues for the former makes the logo and words stand out, even from a great distance away.
Take a look at their new designs:
Front view
Back view
The red and black design
Photos taken from SOURCE.
TPJC Wind Orchestra and Guitar Ensemble Concert: The Review
Written by audience.
(Writer refused name to be published)
Pictures courtesy of TPJC Film and Photography Society.
[TPJCian magazine is unable to contact the writer regarding the short descriptions for the pictures. If you know what songs they are performing as seen on the pictures, do write a comment above.]
The TPJC Wind Orchestra and Guitar Ensemble had successfully presented their combined concert, Le Musique 2008, at the Victoria Concert Hall(VCH) on 31st May 2008. The VCH was indeed an elegant place to hold the event. Ms Irene Ng, Member of Parliament for Tampines GRC, graced the event as the Guest-of-Honour for the night.
For the first half of the concert, the Guitar Ensemble presented us with 10 beautiful pieces. However, all the pieces were very short, and it was quite disturbing to view the emcees walking in and out of the stage after every few minutes. The Guitar Ensemble had invited several guest performers such as from St. Anthony’ Canossian Secondary, Methodist Girls’ Secondary and Anglo-Chinese Junior College to add value to the musical experience.
There were a lot of movements during the performance especially after the first five pieces that the guitar seniors had played. Both the seniors and juniors of the ensemble performed the 6th piece, A Royal March. The next song, El Bimbo, was played only by the senior section leaders of the TPJC Guitar Ensemble. Finally, the last three songs were a combined performance by the Guitar Ensemble from TPJC and all the guest performers.
The third piece, “Recuerdos De La Alhambra” composed by Francisco Tarrega and Masataka Sano, stood out most as it wass one of the most famous classical guitar pieces and the TPJC Guitar Ensemble had brought a lot of emotions and depth to Tarrega and Sano’s masterpiece.
The second half of the concert was more captivating as it was filled with many surprises. The TPJC Wind Orchestra (Winds) started off with a loud ‘POP’ from the party poppers. There was a repertoire of 6 songs performed by the TPJC Winds and they were very well selected. One example of a very meaningful piece was the “An American Elegy” composed by Frank Ticheli, which was composed in memory of those who lost their lives at Columbine High School in 1999 and in honour of the survivors. However, contrary to that of the Guitar Ensemble, the pieces that the Winds chose were quite long-winded.
The “Do Enka Express” composed by Satoshi Yagisawa was a very interesting choice. Modern enka came into being in the post-war years of the Showa period. This piece had brought the audiences into the traditional Japanese culture and it was the only piece in the concert that had light effects accompanying the music.
There were also some good solos in the Winds performance to showcase the amazing talents present in the orchestra to the. One of them who really shined was alto saxophonist, Marcus Yap, who played the piece “Do Enka Express”. His solos were spectacular and he played with much passion.
The concert finale ended with more fun and surprises. The encore was performed by the Winds with two pieces, one of which was Quien Sera. The couple dance put up by the four Winds members during Quien Sera spiced up the atmosphere of the whole concert and captivated the audiences. Overall, the Winds performance was remarkable and they certainly had touched many audiences’ hearts.